Prisoners Say They Were Beaten After Pair Escaped

Inmates who knew the two convicted killers who escaped from a maximum-security prison in northern New York reported beatings by guards trying to determine where the pair went, according to a legal services group.

Prisoners’ Legal Services of New York has received several complaints from inmates on that Clinton Correctional Facility honor block, who were later moved to other prisons, managing attorney James Bogin said Tuesday. Many were transferred and spent time in solitary confinement and some are still missing clothes and other belongings, he said.

“People were beat up,” Bogin said. “People lost property.”

A 23-day manhunt followed the June 6 escape of murderers Richard Matt and David Sweat.

Corrections spokeswoman Linda Foglia said Tuesday that the allegations have been under investigation for several weeks.

Patrick Alexander, who occupied a cell adjoining Matt’s, said he was handcuffed the night after the escape, taken by three guards into a broom closet, punched and had a plastic bag placed over his head while questions were shouted at him.

“The officer jumps up and grabs me by my throat, lifts me out of the chair, slams my head into the pipe along the wall,” Alexander said. “Then he starts punching me … The other two get up and start hitting me also.”

This article appeared in print on page 18 of the August 12th, 2015 edition of Hamodia.